


Fourteen Days

by Rivermoon1970, wednesdays__child



Series: It's All in the Comments [4]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Angst, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Eventual Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Kidnapping, M/M, Mutual Pining, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Stalking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-18
Updated: 2017-09-18
Packaged: 2018-12-31 02:43:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12122787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rivermoon1970/pseuds/Rivermoon1970, https://archiveofourown.org/users/wednesdays__child/pseuds/wednesdays__child
Summary: Aaron closed his eyes as he looked down at his calendar. It was an anniversary of sorts. Six years ago to the day, Aaron Hotchner destroyed the heart of Dr. Spencer Reid.





	Fourteen Days

**Author's Note:**

> Another comment fic that got out of hand. We just can't help ourselves. There is talk of past sexual assault. There is no graphic discription of any previous assault.

Fourteen Days.

Aaron closed his eyes as he looked down at his calendar. It was an anniversary of sorts. Six years ago to the day, Aaron Hotchner destroyed the heart of Dr. Spencer Reid. This day he always shut himself in his office, not daring to look outside, or to look down into the bullpen. He was staying late and tried to bury himself in his work.

Fourteen Days.

They were the happiest days of his life. Then his fears, his anger, his own life falling apart, he turned it all on the one good thing he had done, other than Jack. Aaron closed his eyes again, trying to find his concentration once more.

Fourteen Days.

Passionate, loving, amazing days, then he had destroyed it all. Getting up from his desk he dared to look down into the darkened bullpen, seeing Spencer there, with Dave leaning against the desk, a smile, a hand on the younger man's cheek. A laugh from Reid. It all stabbed and poked and prodded and peeled at that wound that never closed till he was bleeding inside yet again.

Aaron watched Dave leave, then Spencer grabbed his bag and ran after the man. Did their fingers brush? Were they walking too close together? Was it all in Aaron's mind? He had no right to be jealous. Not after the words he said. Mean, hateful, degrading words he threw at Spencer, all while the man stood there and took it. Little did Spencer realize those words were not really being said about him, Aaron was saying them to himself, but he just unleashed them on Spencer. For one goal. To destroy.

Fourteen Days.

And Aaron missed every single day afterwards, all because of his own pain. He hurt another human being on purpose. Now, that person had found someone else. Aaron just couldn't believe it was Dave.

Aaron knew he would go to his grave regretting ever leaving after only fourteen days.

______________________

Spencer sighed as Dave came over to him, gently laying a strong hand on his shoulder. He never regretted telling the eldest profiler about his biggest heartbreak, especially on days like today. He needed the support just to make it through the day.

Six years. It was a long time to be heartbroken, to spent his days longing for someone he could never have and his nights reliving those fourteen days over and over and over again.

He supposed he should hate Aaron. Hate him for making him feel like he was enough, making him feel like he was everything before so harshly pulling it all away like some kind of horrible magic trick, one that left him without his heart in single piece, never to be fully healed.

Fourteen days where he was the singular focus of the man he admired, the man he desired above all others.

Instead, at the end of those fourteen days, Aaron had pushed him away with harsh hands and harsher words - had called him needy and desperate and stupid. Those words had cut him to the core and he had left, leaving his heart behind as he walked out the door.

"You alright, Kid?" Dave asked, pulling him out of his circular thoughts, laying a gentle hand on his cheek.

"Yeah," he whispered, a small smile gracing his face. "I just..."

"Let's get out of here," the eldest profiler said, squeezing his shoulder lightly. "Coffee on me."

"Sounds good," Spencer replied, rising slowly before running after him and falling in step with his friend. Before they stepped out of the bullpen, Spencer turned back, surprised to see sad, chocolate eyes watching them as they left.

After Dave and Spencer left Aaron grabbed his things after shutting down his computer and closing files, he left the office.

Not wanting to go home, Jack was away for the week with Jessica, he found a bar. Sitting at the bar he ordered a scotch and soda. His thoughts were chaotic.

"You look like someone who needs a shoulder to lean on."

Aaron looked up at the voice and had to swallow down the flare of desire. The young man looked a little bit like Spencer. Same hair, same eyes, same kissable mouth.

"Who says I need company?"

"That scotch you're downing rather quickly.."

Aaron narrowed his eyes and watched the younger man who started to spout off statistics and drinking. Without thinking Aaron leaned in and kissed the man. When he wasn't pushed away or slapped, he took that as a good sign.

An hour later, a hotel room, naked, slightly drunk, Aaron was buried balls deep in the man he met at the bar. Trying to purge whatever these feelings, this pain and heartache was. He wanted to drown his jealousy in the body under him and when he came he nearly screamed out Spencer's name.

Spencer sighed down into the cup of tea. Dave had made him switch after his second cup of coffee.

"Why don't you talk to him?" Dave asked, trying his best to catch the younger man's eyes. "I'm telling you, he's feeling exactly the same way you are."

"Really? He's feeling lost and heartbroken after all this time. Rossi, he hasn't given me so much as a second look since that day."

Rossi snorted and shook his head. "When you're looking, maybe not. But believe you me, he watches you. He watches you like a hawk. Hell, sometimes I think you're all he really sees."

Spencer shook his head. "It's been too long. Besides, have you ever been able to get Hotch to talk when he doesn't want to?"

That actually made Dave laugh. "It may be difficult but all things that are worth it are." When Spencer didn't answer, he pressed further. "Talk to him. Trust me on this, Kid."

Dave held out his phone. Spencer figure out what he was doing. Aaron might not answer a call coming from him but he'd answer Dave. Hitting the button to call Aaron, he waited, his breath catching when Aaron answered, slightly slurred and breathless.

"Dave, this better be good."

He tried to say something but the words felt stuck in his throat. Just as he was ready to speak, he heard another voice.

"Aaron. Come back to bed."

Tears pricked the corners of Spencer's eyes as he threw the phone at Dave.

"I think he's moved on," Spencer growled, more broken than just a few moments ago. Shoving out of his chair, Spencer grabbed his bag and almost ran out of the restaurant.

Dave tried to stop him, but he knew the kid was going to clam up even harder than before.

Grabbing his phone, Dave tracked Aaron’s. When he pulled up to the Grand Hotel, Dave's suspicions deepened. Charming the desk clerk with autographs and promise of tickets to his next book reading, he got a keycard to the room Aaron was in.

By the time he got to the room, Dave was pissed off at his best friend.

"The idiot," he said under his breathe as he didn't even knock, he just entered the room.

As he stepped inside, the smell of booze and sex was very unmistakable.

When the bed partner looked up, quite a few things made sense.

"Kid, if I were you, I'd get your pants on and leave now. This may get ugly really fast."

"Who the hell are you?"

"A man with a badge and gun who, at the moment may not hesitate to use said gun. Now, get your pants on and leave."

The young man didn't have to be told twice as he scrambled out of the bed, pulled his pants on and grabbed the rest of his things.

"You're crazy, you know that?" The guy said as he scrambled out of there.

Aaron was dead to the world. Dave figured it was however much alcohol he had imbibed.

Walking up to the bed Dave did a very Dave like thing and smacked his best friend on the back of the head.

"Ow, what the fuck?" Aaron slurred as he tried to sit up.

"Get your ass up out of bed and into a shower. We need to talk."

"Dave? Where's Colin?"

"That's the Spencer look-a-like you fucked?"

"He..."

"Yeah, you want to think before you try to deny it? Now, shower." Dave pointed to the bathroom.

______________

  
Spencer wandered the streets, wiping the tears from his cheeks as they fell. He couldn't believe he could be so stupid, that he had held out any hope that Rossi was right.

For ten seconds - ten whole seconds - Spencer had felt hope for the first time in six years that maybe, just maybe things could work out, that they weren't as useless as they seemed.

Then it all came crashing down around him. Aaron didn't want him. He wondered if he ever had. He remembered all the words of love and desire that the older man had whispered to him on those seemingly endless nights, wrapped in his arms, trapped under that powerful body. Then the hateful, cutting words that had followed. Every dig cutting into his mind, his heart, his soul tearing him up from the inside out.

Spencer's mind was racing, running around and around, bouncing between sorrow for what he thought could have been and anger at the man he could have loved.

His feet carried him forward without his knowledge and he looked around when he suddenly realized he knew exactly where he was.

"Lookie here. My pretty little Doc is back. Looking for a taste, Doc?"

The greasy looking man leaned against the alleyway, lewdly stroking the front of his pants, leering at Spencer.

"Missed ya, Doc. You and that pretty little mouth."

Spencer nearly gagged at the thought. What was he doing here? How did he end up here? He had to get out so he turned and quickly made to run but the man reached out and grabbed his arm.

"Not so fast, Pretty. Got something just for you."

Spencer's heart stopped cold. Even though he had trained with Morgan, and the running he did to stay in shape, he was no match for Jacko. He may have been greasyand disgusting, but he was also big.

"Just let me go, Jacko," Spencer swallowed and tried to put force behind his words.

"Oh no. I missed that pretty mouth of yours. Plus, I got somethin' new that will make you fly so high you won't want to come down ever. Give me what I want and you can have the first taste free."

Spencer wanted to throw up. He didn't have his gun on him, but his badge was clipped to his belt.

"Are you bribing a Fed, Jacko?"

"Oh, I'm sure if they knew all the things you did to get high..." Jacko's arm shot out and grabbed Spencer's other arm. "I know they would throw your pretty ass on the street, then you'd be mine." Jacko tried to pull Spencer closer, but a well aimed kick to the groin had the dealer dropping to the street.

"You are going to pay for that you little whore." Jacko groaned in pain.

"Oh, I don't think so, cher. Now, why don't you get up and I take you in fo' assaulting a Fed."

Spencer's heart was beating fast. How did Will get here?

"Will, just let him go. Please, just get me out of here."

Will looked like he was debating, then let the sleazebag dealer go.

"Come on. Take ya’ home."

Spencer climbed in the back of the car and curled up. He started to shake but the fear didn’t stop.

_____________

Aaron stepped out of the shower where Dave was still sitting.

"Now, you want to tell me what the hell you are doing?"

Aaron dropped to the bed, covered his head with his hands and took a deep breath.

"I don't even know." Aaron felt miserable.

"You don't even...You don't even know?!?" Dave yelled. He got a perverse thrill out of Aaron reaching up to cover his ears at the shouting, but Dave didn't care. Aaron needed to hear this. "Do you have any idea what you've done?! That was Spencer on the other end of the phone. I'd just got him convinced to talk to your dumb ass and then he hears his little substitute on the line? You may have completely ballsed this one up."

"Why do you care?" Aaron said miserably, sitting half way up to attempt a glare at his friend. "As a matter of fact, why would he? You're the one putting it to him now. Why should he care if I picked up someone for a quick fuck?"

"What are you on about, Aaron?" The realization hit him hard. "You think...? You honestly think..? Me and the kid?"

Dave stepped forward and smacked him again.

"You're an idiot!"

_________________

 

Will stopped the car and came around to open the door for him. Spencer let the other man manipulate him into standing, Will taking the messenger bag from him easily. Spencer couldn't get the shaking to stop or keep his stomach from rolling. He'd been close, so close to wanting something, to giving into Jacko that it terrified him. Would he really do it? Could he use again? The answer, of course, was yes. First and foremost, he was an addict. That was proven to him tonight.

As he began to ascend the stairs, he looked up in shock, realizing that he wasn't at his apartment but at JJ and Will's place.

"But..." he started.

"Nope," Will interrupted. "No arguments. You are not goin’ to be alone tonight so don't even try it."

We knew Will was right but all he really wanted was to curl up somewhere and just forget this night, this life and Aaron Hotchner ever existed.

As soon as he walked through the door, JJ was there, pulling him into her arms. As she pressed his face into her neck with a tender hand on the back of his head, he broke. He sobbed and wept and wailed until he had no more voice, no more tears.

JJ looked at her husband who just shook his head. They'd talk later. For now, Spencer needed them both.

_______________

  
"You don't understand, Dave."

"Then enlighten me, because from where I'm sitting, you, my friend, are a moron."

"She was going to take Jack from me." Aaron's voice was so low, Dave didn't hear.

"Say that again because I didn't hear that."

"Haley found out Spencer and I were together. She threatened to keep Jack from me. I called her bluff, and she came to apartment one night because Jack was running a fever and wanted me to go with her to the emergency. When I answered the door, Spencer called out. After we got to the hospital, she was making a call to take custody of Jack from me."

"Why the hell didn't you fight it?"

Aaron stood and grabbed his pants and shoved them back on.

"She knew about Spencer's addiction and would have used it in Family Court. Our affair, and outing something I never reported to the brass? We both would have been fired. I had to protect him."

Dave sighed and stood up, standing in front of Aaron they stared at each other for a few minutes.

The smack on the back of Aaron's head had him glaring at Dave.

"You are an idiot. You should have come to me. I would have helped you."

"What else?"

Aaron turned and picked up his shirt and slipped it on. He stood at the window and let his shoulders slump.

"She put it in her will."

Dave shook his head and wondered why his friend hadn't seen the obvious.

His phone buzzed and when he looked at it he smiled. Maybe they could get these two idiots together after all.

"Come on. Let's go, Loverboy."

Dave was not telling Aaron they were headed to JJ's.

__________

Spencer curled up on the guest bed and fell asleep.

"I can only think of one thing that would push Spencer over like this..."

"Aaron."

JJ smiled and upped Will's cheek.

"That's why I love you. So smart. Yes, Aaron. But there is something Spencer doesn't know. I only found out by accident. I'm texting Rossi and hopefully he can get to Aaron. Those two need to talk."

Rossi drove through town maybe just a little faster and little rougher than was necessary and Aaron threw a glare at him with every sharp turn. If they weren't in the Bentley, he would have considered barfing all over it just out of spite but even he couldn't do that to such a beautiful car. All the way through town the older man kept mumbling about idiot children who didn't know how to talk about their problems and stupid, stubborn Unit Chiefs.

Aaron pretended to ignore him even though his heart was breaking. Knowing that Spencer was on the other end of the phone, that he had heard Colin and known what Aaron was doing was like a knife to the gut. He never wanted to hurt Spencer, not like this. He only did what he thought needed to be done.

They pulled up in front of JJ and Will's house and Aaron turned surprised eyes to his friend.

"Come on," Dave prompted.

"He won't want to see me."

"Don't care. You're taking care of this and getting it out in the open now, Aaron Hotchner. So get in there."

He got out of the car and made his way to the door. When he refused to knock, Dave reached around and did it for him.

JJ opened the door and glared at Hotch for a moment before motioning him inside. As he stepped through the door, she smacked him on the back of his head.

"Ow!" He complained. "Is everyone going to do that tonight!?"

"Six years, Hotch. Six years and you still haven't told him the truth?" JJ crossed her arms and glared at her Boss.

"JJ..."

"I didn't tell him because I thought you would. Oh, no you decide to take the coward's way and not tell Spencer what that bitch of a wife did to you."

"Jayje, darlin'.."

"Don't you darlin' me, Will. In this house I am boss. Got it?"

Aaron actually looked scared of the blonde woman. Rossi was internally cheering her on.

"Now, I never said anything bad about Haley, but what kind of mother, what kind of woman would use their child like that? And, knowing how much you love your son? I thought you would have found a way around all this by now."

"I...."

"Just...go wait in the den. I'm mad at you." Aaron turned wide eyes at Will who gestured for Aaron to follow.

"Ya' can't argue with J when she's got a head a steam about her. And you and Spencer are the two she cares about de' most. Come on, you can wait here. And, Hotch?"

"Yes?" Aaron looked a lot shell-shocked and if the situation wasn't so serious, Will would have laughed. But, all he did was lay a hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eye.

"If she does what ah think she's gonna do, I am so sorry." Will left then JJ came in pulling a very scared looking Spencer behind her.

"Sit," JJ pointed at the couch and stared at Spencer till he did what she said. She left and there was a decided click to the door. Aaron and Spencer looked at each other, then looked at the door. They both rushed it at the same time and found it locked.

"This door is not opening till you two talk." JJ yelled through the door.

"She's scary," Aaron looked at the door wide eyed.

"Maybe we should sic her on more Unsubs." Spencer swallowed hard, then both men realized they had their hands on top of each other.

"You're a bastard...." "Spencer I'm sorry."

The two men said at the same time. Spencer looked up at Aaron then turned away to sit on the couch.

"There's things I didn't tell you. I'm going to tell you now because frankly, at the moment, I'm more afraid of JJ than I am of what you might do." Aaron sat in a chair across from Spencer who was curled tightly in a ball. "Please listen." Aaron tried not to sound broken, he knows he was the one who did this, but it hurt to see the aftermath of his actions. Finally Spencer looked up and then nodded.

Aaron took it slow and told Spencer everything he had told Dave.

"I couldn't let her drag you through court, I couldn't let her destroy you, or your career."

"And what was that tonight?" Spencer looked up and glared at Aaron.

"I looked down and saw Dave touch you. Touch your cheek, and you smiled at him like you used to at me. When you walked out..."

"When we walked out, what?" It didn't take long for it to click in Spencer's mind, "Wait, you thought...? Dave and I....?" Spencer chuckled, then he started to laugh, which turned a little hysterical, which turned to tears.

Not wanting to see Spencer in such pain, Aaron did something he had denied himself for so long. He sat on the couch and pulled Spencer into his arms, the younger man, thankfully, didn't fight him. Holding him close, Aaron closed his eyes a moment and let his own tears fall.

"I am so sorry, Spencer. I had to make a choice. It was the worst choice of my life and at the time, I saw no way out. I chose Jack, and I thought if I could make you hate me that you would move on." Aaron curled his fingers in Spencer's hair and held his face to his chest. "Truth is I love you."

They stayed like that for several long moments, Spencer cuddled into Aaron's chest, the older man carding his fingers through his soft, slightly tangled curls.

"You could have told me," Spencer finally whispered. "You could have said something, anything, Aaron."

"I didn't see a way out. It wasn't just that she could take Jack but she would take you too and I couldn't let her hurt you like that. She'd always believed I was having an affair with someone in the office. She thought it was JJ. When she found out it was you, she lost it. She called us horrible, awful things. I couldn't put you through that Spencer. I'm so sorry."

"And you didn't think that between the two of us, we could figure something out? A former prosecutor who had twelve murder convictions under his belt by the age of twenty eight and a genius with an IQ of 187 wouldn't be able to figure out a loophole?"

"Plus a brilliant team of profilers with tons of resources at their fingertips?" JJ said from the doorway, smiling and the men cuddled together on the couch.

"And don't forget one insanely brilliant tech goddess who is always at the ready, especially in the name of love for her two favorite woobies!"

They both looked up, surprised at the team, plus Will, smiling at them.

Aaron's eyes got wide as he looked at the different expressions regarding him, especially an obviously pissed off Morgan.

He sighed. "Please don't tell me you're all going to hit me..."

"No. Unless you do something this stupid again." JJ crossed her arms and lifted her pretty brow, giving Aaron Hotchner a taste of his own medicine. "But, I think for now we are all going to go in the kitchen, join us when you're ready." She walked up to the both of them. She placed a chaste kiss on Aaron's cheek,. "We will find a way out of this, Aaron. You don't have to be so self-sacrificing."

"I just, I didn't want to ruin Spencer's life."

"I know. Now, fix this." She then turned to Spencer and leaned in close. "You have your own truth to tell Aaron. Don't hide it Spencer, he needs to know."

"JJ..." Spencer sucked in a breath and looked scared.

"Un uh. Lies and secrets got you both into this mess. No more doing that to each other. I'm going to close the doors to give you privacy, but when you're both ready, come join us and we will make a plan to make this right."

JJ left and closed the door to the den, but didn't lock it.

"Spencer?" Aaron looked concerned.

Taking a deep breath and biting his lip a little, Spencer pulled away and looked Aaron in the eye.

"After that call, I thought you really didn't want me. That you really meant all of those things you had said. I know we've gotten back to friends, but we weren't anything like those days. I started walking, not really knowing where I was going. When I looked up..." Spencer looked away as his face heated up from shame.

"Oh, Spencer. Please, please tell me you didn't..." Aaron wanted to reach out and grab Spencer's arm.

"No. No I didn't, but I almost. Will was actually there, some kind of stakeout. He brought me here."

Aaron pulled the genius into his lap and held him so tight in his arms, he didn't want to let go. He buried his head against Spencer's neck, swallowing back the tide of emotions.

"I promise you, Spencer, that I won't ever hurt you like that again. We will figure this out."

Spencer held Aaron close, wanting to believe him, but scared to.

Spencer sighed, dropping his head beneath Aaron's chin. No matter how hard Aaron tried, he couldn't get Spencer to meet his eyes.

"Spencer?" He finally asked, not quite willing to force Spencer to meet his gaze. "What aren't you telling me?"

"I don't know if I can do this again, Aaron," he whispered. "You broke me. It was six years ago but it still hurts today just like it was yesterday. You nearly broke me again today. How do I know this won't happen again when things get tough, and you know they will, don't say they won't."

Spencer was getting himself worked up and Aaron knew he needed to calm him down before the younger man worked himself up into a tirade.

"You're right," he agreed.

Spencer stopped short, looking up in surprise, clearly not expecting Aaron to agree with him.

"It is going to get tough. Things aren't always going to be perfect but I can promise you right now that if he can figure this thing out, I will never push you away like that again. I was wrong. Give me another chance. Maybe another fourteen days to prove to you that I'm serious?"

Spencer smiled before reaching over to lightly smack him on the back of the head.

Aaron rolled his eyes. "What was that for?"

"For thinking I'd be happy with only fourteen days this time around, Aaron Hotchner."

They smiled at each other before Aaron took a chance, leaning forward, pressing his lips against Spencer's own. Spencer closed his eyes, letting the kiss linger but not grow any deeper. Once they pulled away, Spencer pressed their foreheads together.

"Okay. Let's go see what the team has come up with."

Aaron couldn't believe that Spencer was willing to try. That after everything he had done, everything he had said, and the hardass he became that Spencer was willing to try again. He let the younger man go ahead of him into the kitchen where he heard the clacking of keys and excited talking. Aaron needed a moment to get his emotions under control.

"Reason you're standing away from the group?" Dave sauntered over to where Aaron was standing.

"I can't believe he's willing to try. That after all this time, and everything I did to hurt him he still cares. I don't deserve him." Aaron sucked in a breath as he leaned on a wall just outside the kitchen.

"Because that boy, no matter what you've done, he loves you."

"Hey, stop stalling and get your butt in here." JJ yelled and Aaron just laughed. "Garcia may have found the loophole."

Garcia moved the laptop till it was facing Aaron. There staring at him was a picture of Haley, naked, on top of a man.

"That little bitch," Aaron spat as he looked at the photo. "That's her lawyer. How did this picture get on the internet?"

"I'm thinking whoever living_with_lies_284 is, is the one that uploaded them. I'm going to try to back hack and see if I can get any type of information on them."

"Thank you, Penelope. Thank you, everyone. I should have said something earlier, but after Foyet...."

"It's okay, Aaron. We're here now." Prentiss squeezed his arm, but Morgan still looked pissed off.

"I think we need to talk," Morgan growled as he grabbed Aaron's arm and pulled him away from the others and out of the house.

"What the hell, Derek."

"You tell me. What the hell is that." Derek pointed towards the house, but Aaron knew what he meant.

Aaron sighed, trying to fight back his annoyance. "Look. I know you want to protect Spencer and consider him to be your little brother, but he's a grown man and can make his own decisions. He can..."

"I know that," Derek interrupted, his face still a hard mask of anger. "This isn't about Reid. This is about you."

"Me?"

"Yeah. You. I can't believe that you went through all of this, held this in all this time and never said shit, man. Not to me. Not to JJ. Not even Rossi. We are your team, Hotch. I thought that meant something. I thought you trusted us."

"I do trus..."

"No! You don't!"

Aaron nearly flinched back at the force of the words.

"We all come to you when we need help. You keep saying it's because of Foyet but it's more than that, man. Even before that, you hid from us, you started hiding. I don't know if it was Haley or what but you closed yourself off and that's not good. If we are really a team and you want us to trust you, then you gotta trust us. With everything. It goes both ways, Hotch."

"I..." Aaron closed his eyes and wiped his face to try to reign in his emotions. "You're right, Morgan." Aaron took a deep breath as he looked around him. "I used to talk. To you, to Gideon. Then Boston and Bale, Gideon turned from us and I..." Aaron looked down and laughed, but it came out broken, cynical. "He left and if became harder and harder to confide in anyone. I told him things I never told anyone else because I thought..."

"You thought he was your friend. Jesus, Hotch. You know we would be there for you, no matter what."

"I couldn't let the focus be about me. Not when Spencer needed us more."

Aaron didn't hear Spencer come outside to see what was going on.

"Aaron," Spencer looked at him and frowned, "You have never needed to keep all this to yourself. Why didn't you tell us all of this?"

"When you grow up in a house of secrets, you learn to keep your mouth shut. You learn to pretend everything's okay when it isn't. You push all of that down until those around you believe you are normal." Aaron looked away, he felt open and exposed in a way he had never been before. Things long buried, hurts he pushed away were all churning up inside him and if he didn't get away, he knew he would break. He stood there breathing hard not knowing where to go or where to turn.

"Hotch..." Morgan looked like he was trying to find the words but Spencer just laid a hand on Morgan's arm. Spencer moved till he was face to face with Aaron.

"You aren't alone anymore, Aaron."

Aaron clenched his eyes closed tight, fighting back the tears and emotions that were threatening to break free. He needed to stave off the fears and suck it up because boys don't cry. The words he grew up with all his life bounced around in his brain and his breathing became harsh and labored. It wasn't until he felt the strong hands on his shoulders and the tight grip on his wrists that he dared to open his eyes, finding concerned hazel eyes staring into his own.

"Breathe, Aaron," he heard Spencer practically beg. "I need you to breathe."

Slowly, he started to do as he was commanded, drawing in each breath through his nose, out through his mouth. He felt the rhythmic squeezing of his shoulders, recognizing that it was Derek trying to ground him.

The support of these two men meant more to him than he could ever say. Once he had calmed down, Spencer smiled at him.

"Back with us now?" Spencer asked, refusing to look away from his watery chocolate colored eyes.

Aaron nodded slowly.

Derek squeezed his shoulders again, reminding him that they were not alone.

"What do you say we all go inside and figure out what we've got? You two may be the smartest of the team, but we are a team, that means we're family. We will figure this out, okay?"

Aaron nodded, his tumultuous emotions finally mostly under control.

"Give us a minute, Derek? Please?"

Morgan nodded then made his way inside leaving Spencer and Aaron alone once again.

Cupping Aarons cheek, Spencer leaned in and kissed him.

"We are going to have a long conversation when this is all over. You can't keep all of this inside, Aaron. It just keeps hurting you, me, everyone around you. We worry about you."

"I know. I...know. And I know my marriage wasn't perfect. I know towards the end that she was gaslighting me and I just didn't want to fight anymore. You got caught in all of this and I never..." Aaron gently touched Spencer's cheek. "How can you forgive me so easily, Spencer?"

Spencer laid a hand on Aaron's heart.

"I don't know if I've fully forgiven you, but I want to. Now that I know the truth, and that you really want this, want me, we can work our way back to what we had been. This time, both of us with our eyes wide open."

Aaron pulled Spencer close and held him in his arms.

They didn't know they were being watched by those that cared about them most.

"We have to find a way to help them. This isn't fair." Garcia glared at her computer screen and tried to figure what to do next.

"We will, Kitten. We just have to all work together. Aaron is going to have to talk to us, and you know that won't be easy for him. I think that not everything was as good as he tried to pretend it was. This is going to hurt, but we will be there."

"All of us." Will wrapped an arm around JJ and watched the two men out of the kitchen window.

Finally feeling some sense of calm, Aaron smiled at the younger man before turning them both back toward the house. He stopped when he saw the faces of his team - no, his family, smiling back at him from the porch and the windows. For a moment, he wondered why he kept this in for so long.

As he stepped up to JJ, still in Will's arms, he said, "Okay. Let's do this."

The answering smiles he got proved to him that he had made the right decision.

As they stepped into the kitchen, Garcia still furiously typing away, the team began to ask questions about Haley and their home life. It was hard to talk about, even after all this time. Aaron told them that he had suspected she had been cheating for a long time, at least not long after Jack was born, maybe before but he couldn't be sure. His fears were confirmed when he was suspended and the hangup phone calls started. Haley had denied it, all the way up to her death, but Aaron knew. The fact that she accused him constantly of her own indiscretions was still a sore spot for him. He had remained loyal to her and she had stomped on his heart and then had tried to keep him apart from the one thing that had made him happy again - Spencer.

The team nodded through the whole thing, taking in his every word and digesting it for analysis.

Spencer kept a reassuring hand wrapped around Aaron's wrist. He never knew it had been this bad between them. The lies, the indiscretions, the gaslighting, no wonder Aaron had been all turned around. Then the one person that had been his support system abandons the team. Some of that anger that Spencer had been holding onto melted away. Not all, it would take time to trust each other again, but seeing the normally strong, stoic man baring his greatest pain, hurt Spencer.

"I don't like this," Garcia huffed as she typed away. "Digging into your life seems so wrong, Sir."

"I know, Garcia, but you are doing it with my consent."

"Hotch, do you recognize the man in the photos?" Morgan asked.

"The man is her lawyer. We need to find out how those photos got posted, and when. Can you find that out, Garcia?"

"i've hacked the IP address, but it goes to a dead account. Though, I started looking at some of the comments on the site, which is a cheaters-got-caught kind of thing, and there is one consistent commenter. This is one angry person. "  
Garcia spun the laptop around and Spencer read through all of the comments to see if he could see a pattern.

"Definitely a woman. The pattern of the comments is more consistent with how a woman would speak. She personalizes it. Garcia, I think we need to try to track down this, XXfedupwithmen32XX. Do you think you can find them?"

"Hmm, it's pretty hard to track someone with such a vague username."

"Maybe we can lure her out." Aaron was trying not to look at the photos. They were a stark reminder of the reality of his marriage.

"How do we do that? This is over five years old."

"Yeah it is baby Genius, but look, the latest comments were from just a few months ago. That's a long time to still be grudgin' on someone."

"The lawyer's wife maybe?"

"Makes sense. The amount of anger displayed here can only mean that it is either another mistress, or the wife. Aaron, do you have any contact information for the lawyer?"

Aaron moved away to the kitchen and hung his head a moment. His jaw was set as he tried to tamp down on the sudden rise of anger that came from deep inside him.

"I don't need to look. His name is Wilson Banks. He used to be my best friend."

The answering gasps echoed through the room.

"What?!" Garcia hissed furiously. "She..? He..? They..? Oh! That's awful. How could they do something like that?"

"People do awful things, Baby Girl," Morgan said, stepping in to wrap his arm around the Tech Analysts shoulders.

"Aaron?" Rossi said quietly, trying to catch his friend's attention. Once Aaron looked up, he continued, "I think you'd better tell us everything."

Aaron sighed and he reached up to rub at his temples. All of this was giving him a headache. "Wilson and I started at the Federal Prosecutors Office at the same time. We were the brilliant, young hotshots that were expected to come in and shake things up. We did just that. We had a healthy dose of competition between the two of us but we usually got paired up on trials our first year out. We actually hated each other when we met our first year in law school until we got to know each other and were forced to spend so much time together. We discovered that we worked well together - he was good with the cross and I was good with the victims. When we won our first big mock trial together, we became friends. He was the first person to call me Hotch."

Aaron shook his head, remembering all the good times they'd had together so long ago.

"His wife?" JJ asked, bringing Aaron back to the present.

"Elizabeth," Aaron whispered. "Beautiful, driven and completely tied to her husband. Her whole identity had become being the perfect trophy wife. I think she wanted Wilson to go into politics so she could have some sort of prestige. I think that's where Haley got the idea."

"What's she look like?" Morgan asked.

Aaron chuckled, shaking his head as he pulled out his phone. He quickly scrolled through his photos before turning the screen around for all to see. He wasn't surprised at the sounds of shock from the team. They were looking at a beaming woman on the arm of Wilson Banks, looking more like Haley than Haley's own sister.

"Yeah. They would always joke they could pass for twins. They even got pregnant around the same time. Wilson and Ellie were both there for us when we lost the first pregnancy. He blames me for Haley's death. Even went so far as to try to get a wrongful death suit against me. Thankfully, Jessica stepped in and was the voice of reason. I didn't want you guys caught up in the craziness that became my life at that time. I should have looked deeper into why my one-time best friend was so unreasonably angry, but I didn't. I had Jack to look after and that was more important."

"Do you think Mrs. Banks will talk to us?"

"Yeah, I think she will. I should have come to you all sooner, and I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing, Aaron. We're here now. I think this is all we can do for tonight. Go home everyone and get some rest. I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be a very interesting day."

Morgan, Garcia, and Prentiss all said their goodbye's and left after plans were made for the next day.

"It's late, why don't you both take the guest room. It's already made up."

"I can take the couch in your den." Aaron was still unsure where he stood with Spencer.

"No, you are not." Spencer grabbed his hand and pulled him up towards the guest room where he would often stay over so he could have weekends with Henry. Aaron didn't have much choice but to follow along.

"Spencer..."

"Shh, I know we are nowhere near ready for that, but you need someone right now. Let's just take this time for us." Spencer stepped up and wrapped his hands around Aaron's hips. "I want to get there, I do. But, I know we are both tired and emotional. We will see this through together, then when you win and you get out of this web of lies and deceit from your ex-wife, you are taking me to bed and fucking my brains out."

Aaron close his eyes as he wrapped around Spencer, bending his head down just a little so he could kiss those tempting lips he dreamed about almost every night. The obscene noise Spencer made as he deepened the kiss had Aaron wanting so much more. But, Spencer was right. They were nowhere near emotionally ready for sex. That didn't stop the two of them from continuing the sweet, gentle kisses. Aaron ignored the growing erection in his pants, he just wanted to savor and cherish the man in his arms.

Spencer ended up being the stronger of the two as he pulled out of the embrace.

"Come on, let's go to sleep and I am very sure, Aaron, that tomorrow will be a brighter day."

Stripping to just boxers and t-shirts the two men slipped into bed. Aaron spooned behind Spencer holding him tight around the waist as he slipped his other arm under Spencer's head. If all he got was this, Aaron knew he could be a very happy man. Closing his eyes he prayed to God he tried to believe in that everything would work out.

Waking warm and comfortable, Aaron groaned as his nose was buried in soft, fragrant curls. Dipping his nose in further, he inhaled deeply, working hard to memorize the scent in case this was all he was ever going to get.

Spencer sighed and shifted in his sleep, pressing his body in closer to the warm body beneath. Some time during the night Aaron had rolled onto his back and Spencer had followed, curling around him and holding on tight. As Spencer pressed in, Aaron felt his morning erection pressing against his hip. Knowing that Spencer was hard caused Aaron's own cock to begin to stir. He tried his best to ignore it, knowing that they are nowhere near ready for that kind of intimacy yet but feeling Spencer like his, here and now, he knew he wanted it, he wanted it all and he would do whatever it took to get him back, even if it meant exposing every dirty little secret he had.

Spencer shifted in his sleep again, rubbing his hardness against Aaron's hip. He knew he couldn't let this continue. Spencer would most likely be embarrassed and although he knew it would be a bad idea, he was never good at resisting temptation, especially if that temptation was Dr. Spencer Reid.

He reached up and began to stroke Spencer hair, hoping that small movement would wake him further. Instead, Spencer made the most insanely obscene sound Aaron had ever heard before rolling his hips harder and faster. Knowing he needed to end this now, Aaron shook Spencer by the shoulder, smiling down at the younger man's surprised face as his hazel eyes shot opened and he blinked hard once, twice, three times. Aaron chuckled lightly before greeting, "Good morning, Sweetheart."

"Good morning." Spencer smiled and Aaron couldn't help it. He rolled over and pressed his body along Spencer's, letting the man under him feel his own erection.

"This is what you do to me, Spencer. Do you know how hard it is to share rooms with you? Do you know what you do to me when you walk out in a towel and dress with me right there. Sometimes I think you do it to drive me crazy. I can't tell you the number of cold showers I've had to take over the years." Aaron had been rocking his groin against Spencer's. Looking down into those eyes, he didn't even stop himself from taking Spencer's mouth in a kiss that only heated up the longer it went on.

Spencer gripped Aaron's back, his fingers digging in as he wrapped his legs around Aaron's waist. He kissed Aaron back with as much need and want as Aaron was conveying through lips, tongue, and teeth. His lip was caught between Aaron's teeth and he lightly scraped thrust harder against Spencer. The friction of their bodies, as well as the slightly rough cotton of their boxers adding to the sensations.

"Spencer," Aaron sounded wrecked as he pulled his mouth away from Spencer's and let their foreheads connect. "We should stop."

Spencer did that little moan again. That obscene noise that had spurred Aaron on in the first place. Spencer slid his hands down Aaron's back stopping when he got to the tight, hard ass that was currently undulating against him. He squeezed and gripped hard, bringing them even closer together.

"We probably should," Spencer sounded just as wrecked. "Please, Aaron." The little whine, then the stretching of his neck had Aaron diving into bite and taste that beautiful, long supple neck. The skin softer than Aaron remembered. Clamping his teeth against Spencer's pulse point he thrust down hard, their cocks rubbed, painfully together, but it was a pain that laced with a certain bliss as he felt that familiar pull starting in his thighs, then travelling up his groin and pulling at the base of his cock. He felt his balls tighten against his body, and his lower spine tingling as he was pushed closer and closer to that glorious edge.

Aaron lifted his head and opened his eyes to look down into dark eyes blown wide with lust. The body under him thrusting, and swiveling hips pushing Aaron closer and closer to that sweet edge of sinful pleasure.

"Fuck, Spencer," Aaron panted as he dived in again and took Spencer's mouth in a hot, needy kiss. Thrusting his tongue inside when Spencer opened his mouth, Aaron showed him what he wanted to do if they ever got the chance to do it again. Spencer was moaning and whining as they both rocked together faster, their hips grinding together harder. Then Aaron cried out as he still kissed Spencer. The orgasm rolled through him, almost painfully as he released inside of his boxers.

Spencer squeezed his legs tighter around Aaron's waist, thrusting his hips up a couple of more time, then he too was screaming into Aaron's mouth as he came inside his own underwear.

Pulling away, Aaron looked down and saw just how wrecked Spencer looked. His lips were swollen, his face flushed and his neck was a mess of bite marks that were already fading.

Chuckling, Aaron lifted a hand and cupped Spencer's cheek.

"We shouldn't have done that." But Aaron didn't even try to hide the smile on his face.

"Nope, but I'm not going to regret one moment of it. I love you, Aaron Hotchner, and I will do everything in my power to keep you this time."

Spencer lifted up and kissed Aaron once again. Hope bloomed large in Aaron's heart that this he really was going to get to keep Spencer.

Not knowing how he got so lucky, Aaron finally found the will to pull himself away from the delectable body beneath him before sitting up on the side of the bed. His boxers, sticky and damp with his release, were getting colder by the minute. Spencer crawled up behind him, hooking his chin over Aaron's shoulder to look down at the mess they'd made.

"I have fresh clothes here if you want to change," he offered. "I keep extra here for when I stay over to see Henry."

"That would be great...after a shower if that's possible."

Spencer rose from the bed, more graceful than Aaron thought should be possible first thing in the morning. The younger man quickly gathered up some clean boxers, socks, t-shirt and sweater.

"Sorry, but I doubt that any of my jeans will fit you."

Aaron smiled back. "No worries, Spencer. I'll just wear yesterdays. They are clean enough." Taking the offered clothing, he leaned in for a kiss, happy when Spencer freely complied. "Shower?"

"Across the hall. Second door on the right."

Aaron stepped out, hoping to quickly make it to the bathroom without anyone seeing him.

It seemed like luck was not on his side.

Just as he made it to the door and reached for the handle, the door at the end of the hallway opened and JJ stepped out followed by Will.

"Morning," the blonde woman greeted. When Aaron refused to turn around, she asked. "Hotch? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah?" Aaron answered tentatively.

"Come on, J. Leave the man alone," Will said, trying to get his wife to leave the Unit Chief alone.

"No, Will. We said no more hiding. He needs to learn to talk to us."

Knowing that he wasn't going to be able to get out of this with the stubborn woman, Aaron stood to his full height before turning to face the couple. He watched as they looked him over. He had to be a sight with his hair a mess and lips kiss swollen and the obvious stain still drying on the front of his boxers. The look on JJ's face caused a heated blush to travel up his neck before spilling over his cheeks.

She chuckled lightly as she moved to walk past him, patting him on the shoulder as she went.

"You might want to see if Spencer has a high collared shirt or a turtleneck for you."

Aaron's eyes grew wide as his left hand flew to his neck.

"Nope. Both sides," she whispered. "And you might not want to use up all of the hot water. If Spencer looks half as wrecked as you do, he's going to need to shower too."

She giggled as she walked away and Will just shock his head as he followed.

"Good on ya'."

Aaron couldn't get into the shower fast enough. He didn't think he was ever going to be able to look JJ in the eye again. Getting under the hot water felt good after the events of the day before. Aaron let out a long sigh as the water cascaded down his body. Grabbing the shower gel, he lathered quickly, then used the shampoo and conditioner that was in there as well. When he smelled it, he knew it was Spencer's preferred brands. The smell had Aaron's mind going back to just a few minutes ago and how the scent and taste of Spencer's skin did things to him that he shouldn't be thinking about now.

The shower door opened, and Aaron startled, watching as Spencer slid in.

"Can't let you get all of the hot water." The smirk on Spencer's face had Aaron blushing again.

"We are not doing anything, Spencer Reid. Now, let me out."

"Not before I get a kiss." Spencer leaned in and took Aaron's lips in a long, slow heated kiss. As he pulled back he let himself take a deep whiff of Aaron's skin.

"You're going to smell like me."

"I am very aware of that, Spencer. Now, you have to let me go."

"I'll let you get out of the shower, Aaron." Spencer gently laid both hands on Aaron's face, "But, I am not going to let you go."

Aaron was too full of emotion to say anything more and Spencer finally let him out. Once he was dried off and dressed, he made his way downstairs.

JJ handed over a cup of black coffee and just smiled at him. Spencer came down a few minutes later and he was handed his own cup of coffee.

"Hotch, if you want, Jack can come here and play with Henry. That way you are free to figure out what needs to be done from here."

"Thank you JJ. I think I'll start by going to see Ellie. She's going to have some of the answers I need."

"I'm going with you. You don't have to do this alone, Aaron."

Aaron wanted to protest, but the determined look in Spencer's eye had him acquiescing.

"Alright. Why don't I take you for breakfast, then I'll call Ellie and see if she will see us."

"That sounds perfect."

Aaron called Jessica to let her know what the plans were. He knew she had questions, but they would have to wait for now.

Spencer directed Aaron to a diner down the street from JJ and Will's house. It was small and out of the way but the food was good and it was open 24 hours and would be a quiet place to talk.

Once their food was put in front of them, Spencer finally asked, "What are you going to do?"

Aaron pulled out his phone and pulled up a contact number he had used in years.

/It's Aaron. Are you home? I'd like to talk./

He sat the phone on top of the table, face up, as he began to eat. Spencer noticed the set of his shoulders was tense and he was eating like a man on a mission.

"Aaron," Spencer whispered, capturing his attention. "What's wrong?"

Aaron sighed before taking another sip of his coffee.

"I'm not really looking forward to this."

"Talking to her or figuring out what happened?"

"Both?" Aaron shook his head. "It's been a long time, and while Wilson and I were best friends, I always got the feeling that Ellie wasn't always happy to have me around. I guess now I know why. It wasn't me she had a problem with, it was Haley. She might talk to me, if Wilson isn't around."

"Even if she won't talk to you, maybe she'll talk to me."

Aaron nodded, smiling at the younger man. It was possible. Spencer had developed an innate sense of knowing what to say to get the answers he wanted out of people. He was a profiler and getting better all the time. He started to answer when his cell phone suddenly pinged.

He picked it up and read the message.

/I have nothing to say to you./

He shook his head before calling Garcia and asking her to verify Ellie and Wilson were still living at the same place.

"The address hasn't changed, Bossman. They sure to look picture perfect happy in all the photos. They sure do put on a good face."

"Yeah, they do. Thanks, Garcia"

Disconnecting the call, he looked at Spencer. "You done?"

Spencer nodded, finishing off his coffee. "Yeah. Are you ready to go?"

"Let's do this," Aaron agreed.

Aaron quickly drove them across town to the home he remembered all too well. He and Haley had spent so much time there it was almost like a second home. He was amazed how much it all still looked the same. Parking the SUV on the street, Aaron and Spencer made their way to the front door. Knocking loudly, Aaron stepped back, wondering what they would find. Then they heard the door unlock and it swung open, revealing a very unhappy woman.

"Hi Ellie."

"Aaron," the woman sneered. "You shouldn't have come."

"I need to speak with you. This is important, Ellie, or I wouldn't be here. Please."

"Fine." Ellie held the door open and let Aaron and Spencer in. "Just tell me what you want, then leave."

"What is going on with you? We don't see each other for the last almost seven years and suddenly I'm a bad guy to you?" Aaron frowned as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"I don't know, maybe if you had been around more your wife wouldn't have been in my husband's bed."

Aaron couldn't help it. The situation was just too ridiculous. He stared at her and shook his head.

"Elizabeth, you and I both know that even if I had worked less hours, Haley would still have cheated on me, and there is a good chance that it would have been Wilson. I know for a fact that Wilson logged more hours at work that I did, so, what the hell is this really about."

Ellie pressed her lips together then marched into her room and brought back a packet of photos. These were old photos of Aaron and Wilson in college.

"Or don't you remember these?"

Aaron frowned as he took the packet and started to look through them. Most were from frat parties, nights out at the local bar, typical photos friends would take of each other sometimes special occasions, sometimes for absolutely no reason. The last few photos, though, were different. Aaron had almost forgotten about those. Aaron now knew where Ellie's hostility was coming from.

"Okay, first off, we were nineteen, drunk, and playing a stupid game of truth or dare. Wilson chose dare, and one of the guys took the pictures to prove we actually did it."

"So you screwed each other and let others watch?"

"No. The dare was kissing. And if you look again, the only clothes we had off was our shirts. We were young, drunk frat boys, Elizabeth. That was the one and only time anything like that ever happened with Wilson."

"You..." Ellie deflated as she walked over to the couch and slumped down onto a cushion. Aaron walked over and sat on the coffee table in front of her. "I found these the other day. I've been cleaning out things. Getting rid of stuff I...we don't need anymore. They were hidden away and I just..."

"You assumed that Wilson cheated on you in college. If he did, it wasn't with me and when we sobered up, well it was awkward for a few days to say the least. I told Haley about it, but I can assume from your reaction that Wilson never told you."

"No. He never did. Was my whole life with him a lie, Aaron?"

"I can't answer that. I thought I had known him as well. What's going on, Ellie?"

"i think he's having another affair. I can't take it anymore, Aaron. I filed for divorce. I just...he always wanted her and I'm just the substitute. All those years she was all about you and the two of you seemed like the golden couple."

Spencer hadn't said anything as he sat in a chair across from the couch, watching the interplay between Aaron and Elizabeth.

"I'm here for a reason Ellie. This is my friend and colleague Dr. Spencer Reid. Actually, he's more than a colleague. I love him, I've loved him for quite a while now, but Wilson had written up Haley's will. In it she had a stipulation that if I was with Spencer, Jack could be taken from me. I need to find out if you know anything about that."

Elizabeth was quiet for a long time, then she stood and went into another room of the house. When she came back she had a document in her hand.

"I don't know what Wilson was doing when Haley died. All I know is that he had hidden this. I found it one day when I overheard him talking to Roy Brooks. I didn't understand it. The Brooks didn't use Wilson as their lawyer, but another lawyer in the firm. I've held onto this because...I was angry with you. I assumed a lot of things, but maybe I should have talked to you first."

Aaron took the document out of the envelope it was lightly sealed in. When he pulled it out, Aaron frowned. It was the Will and Testament of Haley Hotchner dated the day she had gone into WitSec.

"Aaron, what is it?" Spencer asked as he stood and walked over to Aaron.

"It's Haley's Will. Dated the day she went into WitSec. She signed this just hours after the Marshals took custody of her and Jack. There's a letter, addressed to me." Aaron held it in his hands, afraid to open it, afraid of what it said.

Slowly, Aaron unfolded the letter. He stared at the words written in Haley's wide looping script. He'd read more than a few notes and letters written in that beautiful handwriting that he'd know it anywhere.

He saw the words before him but they didn't make any sense. After several long minutes, Spencer reached over and took the letter from his fingers and began to read out loud.

"Aaron,

I had to write this to you quickly because they are about to take us away, but I needed you to know a few things in case anything happens to me.

I'm sorry for the way I've treated you these last few years. I was hurt and angry and I placed all of the blame on you as our marriage began to crumble. It was wrong, and for that, I am sorry. I always felt like you loved the job more than you loved me, that it was your wife and I was the mistress. When I couldn't have you, Wilson came to me and filled the hole of you being gone. It was wrong, I know but I was weak.

Wilson tried to so hard to be like you, wanted me to fill a hole he felt. It was the hole you left behind. You see, once I realized it, it all made sense. The only reason Wilson wanted me was so he could be close to you. He loved you, Aaron. He probably always did. Once again, I was the runner up and I was hurt. So when I saw you with Dr. Reid, I lashed out at you in the only way I knew how. I threatened to take away your son and, for that, I am sorry.

I have updated my will and you will see that the stipulation Wilson had originally included is gone.

I hope you find happiness, Aaron. You deserve it. I'm sorry it couldn't have been with me.

Love always,

Haley"

Spencer slowly folded the letter as Aaron pulled the will out of the envelope and began to read it.

After reading through it, Aaron carefully put it back into the envelope but held onto it.

"Ellie...I never felt that way about Wilson. He was my friend, that's all that was ever between us. At least on my part."

Elizabeth let out bitter laugh as she leaned forward and took Aaron's hand in hers.

"i know that now, Aaron. I know he wanted to hurt you. He somehow believes that he should have been the one for you to lean on after Haley left you."

"Will you be alright, Ellie?"

Elizabeth smiled softly and nodded.

"I'll be fine. Wilson may have hurt me emotionally, but he would never hurt me physically. You know, he wanted to go see you in the hospital when he found out you had been attacked. When he got there, the security surrounding you, he didn't get close. He was upset, but he didn't take anything out on me."

"if you need anything, please, Ellie you call me." Aaron handed her his business card. He and Spencer said their goodbyes, then left. As they walked out of the house, Spencer gently took the keys from Aaron, who still looked shell-shocked.

"Come on. Let's go back to JJ's and let everyone know what happened. I'm sure that with the real will showing up, you won't have an issue with getting a Judge to look at it over."

Aaron nodded and let Spencer drive. He was reeling from learning that Wilson had romantic feelings for him. He never knew. He didn't feel the same way. He had loved Wilson, but in that brotherly, best friend way, not romantically, not like he loved Spencer. This was almost too much as Aaron stayed silent, letting all this roll around in his head.

When they got back to the house, Spencer directed Aaron inside and immediately took him into the living room and planted him on the couch. The older man was still trembling slightly so he leaned down to ask if he was alright. When he got a tiny nod, he pulled the envelope from lax fingers. Spencer found JJ and asked for Jack, knowing that Aaron needed something right now and his son was most likely it.

Tiny feet pounded down the stairs and then a little body collided with Aaron. He sighed and opened his arms, accepting the hug from the small boy. As Jack began to tell his dad about all the cool stuff he and Henry had been doing, Spencer slipped into the kitchen with JJ and Will.

"Is he going to be alright?" JJ asked.

"Eventually," Spencer replied, sighing lightly.

"What's that?" Will pointed to the envelope.

"The key to working all of this out."

Will reached out for the envelope but Spencer shook his head. "Did you do as I asked?"

JJ nodded. "Everyone is on the way over here now."

"There's more to the story than just this."

They waited for the team, JJ fixing coffee and tea, Spencer and Will watching the boys from the doorway. Once everyone had arrived, they assembled in the kitchen, everyone except Hotch.

Spencer looked at them all in turn. Sighing, he started the story. "So we went to go speak with Mrs. Banks. She had this." He held up the envelope. "It's Haley's updated will, one that she had prepared right before she and Jack went into WitSec. She removed the clause that would take Jack away but it never got filed officially with the court."

"Why not?" Rossi asked.

"Because Wilson Banks was in love with Aaron and didn't want me to have him."

"I never knew,” Aaron said from the doorway. “He was my friend, but I never knew he loved me like that. I now know why all this happened. I feel like a fool."

"Aaron, this isn't your fault. You couldn't have known."

"There is a lot I didn't know about him. So, what can we do about this?"

"We need a Judge to look at the documents and get the real will instated. It shouldn't be that hard, because this was already signed and witnessed." Rossi had looked it over carefully. "I'll call my guy and see what he can do."

"Dave..." Aaron started to protest.

"This is the part where you say 'thank you, Dave. I appreciate it.'"

Aaron just shook his head as he looked around at Dave knowing he was right.

"Thank you, Dave. I appreciate it."

"See, that wasn't so hard. The ground didn't crack and swallow you up. Now, I have a phone call to make." Dave left to go make his phone call and the rest of the group made plans to find Wilson. He was still guilty of fraud and needed to answer for what he had done.

Dave moved quickly to make his phone call, walking into the other room for some quiet. Spencer stood by Aaron, gently rubbing his back as the other man sagged and slumped down into one of the chairs. He knew all of this was taking a toll on the older man but he didn't realize just how much.

"Okay, furry friends," Garcia said as she continued to search on her laptop for any useful information. "I have looked into the life and times of Mr. Wilson Banks. I think it's safe to say that he is a happy on the outside but scary on the inside kinda guy. His social media all show a super happy family life and successful career but there is weirdness once I started digging into his financials. It looks like he's been being paid off for something. He's been receiving huge deposits once every three months with another big withdrawal a month after that."

"Maybe he's being paid off by a client?" Emily offered.

"Or for his silence about something?" Derek offered.

"Oh, now this is interesting," Garcia murmured, leaning closer to her screen.

"What?" Aaron asked, wondering if he could take any more.

Garcia sighed as she sat back. "I found a file in his email - don't ask how I found it - and it's full of pictures."

"Pictures?" Aaron asked.

"Of you, mon Capitan."

Aaron stared at the photos. Hundreds of them. Some were ones from his various speeches at Georgetown and other colleges. Some were from court cases where he testified. Newspaper and Internet articles and more. But the most disturbing were the ones of him out with Jack at the park, at their favorite diner and more.

"This is obsessive stalking. Hotch, have you gotten anything from him? Anything you've received that maybe seemed innocent at the time?" Morgan asked as he looked through the photos.

"Anything personal...."

Aaron looked up at Prentiss and remembered the package he had received a few months prior. It had been his Military School class ring that he thought he had lost. He assumed that the person tracked him down and returned it to him.

Something bubbled up inside him. It was anger laced with a little fear. This was different than Foyet. This was personal and he knew all too well the statistics of these kinds of obsessive stalkings. Aaron looked his team over and gave them a determined look.

"Don't treat me like a victim." Gripping the edge of the table Aaron took a few deep breaths.

"Hotch, you know that we need to know as much as possible. About you, about Wilson. I don't need to tell you the type of stalker this man is."

Aaron saw the looks of concern on all of the faces of his friends. He didn't want concern or pity. He only wanted their help so that he and Spencer could be together. This was too much. Too much all at once as he shoved away from the table and went outside. He just needed some fresh air.

As he left he heard Spencer telling everyone to let him go, to give him time to process everything. He walked out and down the steps of the brownstone, then out to the sidewalk. He leaned against the little gate and crossed his arms. His thoughts pinging in his head as he thought back through everything. How could he have been so blind, was the one question that was pinging through his head. He wasn't paying attention to when someone stopped near him.

"Hello Aaron." That was the last thing he heard before he blacked out.

Waking several hours later Aaron found himself with his hands tied above his head to a bed stripped of his clothes and only a pair of sleep pants on. When he looked around the room, it was plastered with pictures of him. He could admit that for once he was truly scared.

"There's my boy," Wilson practically purred right by his ear. "Glad to see you're awake, Aar. God, I've missed you."

"Wills," Aaron croaked, his mouth and throat were so dry. He licked his lips to try and moisten them but all it did was pulled a moan from his friend's throat. "What are you doing?"

"Finally giving you what you want. What we've both wanted for so long. You remember that night, don't you?"

"Wills, that was just a drunken frat dare. It was just a kiss."

Wilson slowly climbed onto the bed, straddling Aaron's thighs. The prone man wanted to close his eyes from the sight of his former best friend half naked on top of him, wearing the same sleep pants as Aaron and that was all.

"It was only a kiss at the party, but once we got back to the dorm room..."

"Nothing happened in the dorm room," Aaron protested.

"Come on, Aar. You can't tell me you don't remember how I made you hard and took you in my mouth. How you grabbed my hair and fucked my mouth, pushed down my throat. How you said it was perfect - that I was perfect. How you called my name when you came. That's when I knew we were meant to be together."

Tears filled his eyes and Aaron had to shut them against the onslaught of emotions. "Did you..? Did you assault me, Wills? I was passed out. That's..."

"You wanted it, Aar. You told me so."

Aaron shook his head from side to side, denying the words.

"And now I think it's time for you to repay the favor."

_______________

 

After about fifteen minutes, Spencer decided Aaron had cooled down long enough and he went outside to find him, only to find the front yard empty. He walked around to the back, thinking maybe Aaron was hiding there, but there was no sign of him. He called his name a few times, only to have silence return to him.

As he walked back inside, worry began to churn in his belly.

"He's not out there."

Derek shrugged. "Maybe he went home?"

"I drove him last night," Dave said. "His car isn't even here."

"He went for a walk?" Emily offered. "He does that sometimes when he needs to clear his head."

"I'm calling him," Spencer said, quickly pulling out his phone. A phone started to ring on the table. Aaron had left without it. "Shit!" He whispered hotly. "Garcia, is there any way to track him if he left his phone here?"

"Sorry, Boy Wonder," she replied sadly, "No phone means no tracking. I haven't gotten approval to implant trackers on you all yet."

The team chuckled lightly at that as JJ walked over and laid a gentle hand on Spencer's shoulder. "He probably just went out for a walk. We'll give him another thirty minutes before we start to panic, okay?"

Spencer nodded but internally, the panic had already started.

__________________

  
Aaron's mind was frantically trying to find a way out of this. He pulled on the restraints, but they were tied a little too well. He had nothing on him to alert Spencer where he was. Swallowing, he looked up at his once best friend and wondered why he hadn't seen it in all the years they had known each other.

Wilson looked down and touched one of his scars and Aaron tried not to react.

"I wanted to kill that bastard that touched you. Dared to hurt you. I tried to find him, but he was a tricky little fucker. I'm sorry about Haley, Aar. I didn't mean to cheat on you, but she had you and I didn't. We were the perfect team. We could have done anything, Aar. We could have conquered the world together. But, no. You left me. You left me. Your little twink doesn't deserve you."

Aaron was trying to think, Spencer. He had to think like Spencer. He had to keep Wilson talking because if there was one thing Aaron knew about Wilson Banks is that he loved to talk about himself and his accomplishments. Aaron closed his eyes and thought back to as many conversations with Spencer as he could and started to channel the genius.

"You're right. You're right, Spencer doesn't deserve me. Tell me, Wills, what plans do you have? Where will we go?" Aaron felt sick, but he had to play this out, had to get Wilson to release him.

"There's my boy. Always the planner. Remember how we were going to conquer the Prosecutor's office, then open our own?" The floodgates opened, and Wilson began to talk and Aaron worked on the restraints. Closing his eyes a moment, he sent up a little prayer that the team, that Spencer, would find him.

_____________________

 

"We need to look now. I know, JJ. I know something bad has happened. This isn't Aaron."

"Alright, I've got Wilson Banks DMV information. As well as property records. Besides the house that he and Mrs. Bank’s own, Wilson still owns his parent’s property in upstate Virginia and a getaway cabin in Maryland."

"Dammit. Too many options. We can't take a chance on choosing the wrong place, and there aren't enough of us to go to each location."

Spencer was pacing, trying to think.

"Do we know if the Parent’s house is still there?" Spencer asked as he paced, trying to control the panic he felt deep in his gut. Aaron needed him, he needed his brain and he would keep it together to find him.

The only noise in the house was Garcia's clacking away at her laptop. No one dared say a word as she dug deeper into Wilson's life.

"No, the house was torn down and turned into rental properties a few years ago. The Banks' make a decent profit off of the area during the summer and fall months with travelers. There are ten small rental houses and two larger ones surrounding a large man made lake." Garcia turned the laptop for them to look at the site she had found.

"Shit, that's too many, and too widely spread out. What are we going to do?" Spencer felt on the verge of tears.

Morgan walked over and gripped Spencer's shoulders.

"We will find him, Reid. I promise you that. We will do whatever we have to, okay?"

"The longer Wilson has him...."

"Don't think about that. You know Hotch, he can annoy an Unsub just as much as you can." That got a little chuckle out of everyone.

Getting back to trying to figure things out, there was a knock on JJ's door. She went to go answer while the rest of the team talked the situation out.

"Yes, may I help you?"

"I think I can help you. My name is Elizabeth Banks, and I'm pretty sure I know where my husband is."

Spencer rushed forward, pushing past JJ as he stood before the blonde woman.

"Mrs. Banks. I'm Spencer Reid. We met earlier today?"

"Yes. I remember you."

"You know where your husband is?"

"I'm pretty sure he's up at the cabin. I've been trying to track him down to get him to sign the last of the divorce papers but he's been avoiding me. He knows I'll get half of everything and I think he's been siphoning money into an offshore account so I won't get as much. That asshole has been hiding things from me for years, possibly our entire marriage. Anyway, I put an alert on the property so that if anyone accessed the front gate, I'd know about it. It was used about an hour ago."

Spencer gasped. "Do you think..." he stopped to breathe before looking her in the eyes. "Do you think he took Aaron? Could your husband do that?"

She sighed, dropping her head. "Honestly, I don't know what he's capable of anymore. I do know that he had been talking about Aaron more lately and he'd hired a private investigator. I thought it was to see if I was having an affair for leverage in the divorce but now I'm not so sure."

Spencer jumped up. That was it, it had to be.

"Garcia, alert the Maryland State Police that a Federal Agent has been kidnapped and is being held at the cabin. Tell them to get there as soon as possible. And somebody'd better drive me now or things could get ugly."

______________

Wilson kept talking. He talked about how he'd followed Aaron's career, how he'd hoped when he and Haley began to sleep together that it would get Aaron to leave the FBI so he could woo Aaron back into law and back to him. He talked about the money he'd put aside, far away where no one could touch it. They could run away and live forever on the interest alone.

All the while, Wilson was running his fingers over the exposed skin of Aaron's chest, stomach and shoulders, caressing his body and tracing every scar. Aaron did his best to hide his reaction, but it was hard to hold back a shiver of revulsion when Wilson's fingers ventured to the waistband of Aaron's sleep pants. Unfortunately, Wilson was so far gone that he took it as a tremble of desire.

"Shh, Aar. It's okay, Baby. We'll get there soon enough. I want to make sure everything is perfect just like last time. I want our first time together to be perfect. I won't leave you like that piece of shit doctor did. He didn't even try to fight for you, not like me."

"No, he didn't fight for me," Aaron whispered, trying to sound convincing. "But you did, didn't you Wills? I see that now."

Wilson leaned down, tracing one of Aaron's scars with the tip of his tongue. Aaron flinched away and was immediately met with angry, nearly jet black eyes. He smiled, trying to calm the man on top of him.

"Wills, please. I want this. I want you. Please, just let's me touch you."

Wilson laughed then, harsh and loud.

"Nice try, Aar. You see, you forget that I know you better than anyone and I know when you're lying. You have a tell. Your left eyebrow raises just slightly when you lie and you were lying just now. You don't want to touch me, do you Aar?"

"I do," he replied, filling his words with want and desire he didn't feel. "I want you Wilson. Please. But, I can't do that, Wills if I'm tied up. I can't touch you like you want me to." Aaron pulled on all of his experience doing undercover to make everything as believable as possible. "Like I want to." He let his voice deepen and he thought of Spencer in his head. It helped him to get in the right headspace to make Wilson believe him.

"Kiss me first, and If I feel it. Then we'll see." Wilson bent over Aaron, and Aaron had to tamp down on the rising panic. Thoughts of Foyet and that night tried to intrude on what was happening now. He had not let anyone be on top of him like Wilson was, this was the first time in over four years. Aaron gripped the restraints as he tried to fight the rising panic inside him. Shutting his eyes tight, Aaron tried not to let out any noise to alert Wilson that there was anything wrong.

When lips touched his and Wilson pressed down on him Aaron closed his eyes tight as tears leaked from his eyes. The panic that had started, bubbled up and Aaron let out a pained noise.

Wilson jerked away and sat up looking down at Aaron and frowning. Aaron was still pulling against the restraints, rubbing his wrists raw, and begging for it to stop.

"Aaron?" Wilson tried to hold Aaron down, but that just made it all worse. Aaron bucked in his panic and he pulled hard trying to get away from the pain, from the knife going into him over and over. He was reliving in his mind the worst day of his life.

"Please, please, it hurts, stop," Aaron was begging.

Wilson touched his stomach and instead of calming Aaron down, it made everything worse. Aaron used his powerful legs to get leverage, Wilson hadn't thought to restrain his ankles, and with one powerful push, Aaron dislodged the man on top of him. There was a loud crack, the table, they had crashed into the table, a moan, was that him? Was that his attacker? Aaron couldn't tell anymore as past and present merged. He struggled some more, then he finally passed out from the imagined pain and fear. He heard nothing from his attacker as he slipped into darkness once more.

__________

"Come on, Morgan," Spencer was shaking his leg willing the SUV to go faster. Rossi had already cleared it for them to get to the cabin in Maryland, but it was taking too long.

"Pretty Boy, you gotta calm down we will get there, and we will find Hotch. Okay?"

Spencer nodded, he didn't trust his voice. Mrs. Banks was in the back seat because she had the codes for the gate as well as for the cabin. She was silent as they raced towards their destination.

He heard noise. Noises from the floor. Noises all around him. Moans and groans and soft cursing.

Aaron blinked, trying to remember where he was, what had happened. His arms hurt. As he tried to pull his arms down, he realized they were stuck, still pulled taut over his head. He twisted his head to look and realized that not only was he restrained but his wrists were rubbed raw and bleeding.

"Fuck," he heard whispered from the floor and the truth of his situation slammed back into his memory. Wilson. He'd been trying to convince Wilson to untie him when he'd had a flashback of Foyet and panicked. He swallowed hard, fighting back the nausea rising in his throat.

Wilson stood slowly, using the bed to brace himself as he got to his feet. When he came into Aaron's line of sight, he saw that the other man was bleeding from what appeared to be a nasty head wound. His eyes were hard and narrowed as leaned forward again.

"What the fuck was that?" Wilson spat at him.

"I'm sorry, Wills," Aaron started to babble, his voice trembling with barely restrained fear. "Foyet. I...I saw...felt..."

"You thought I was the prick that did this to you?!" He pointed at the scars on Aaron's chest. "Why would you think that?"

"Wills, please. Let me go."

Wilson knelt up on the bed before reaching up to pull Aaron's sleep pants down to his ankles before tying them together to hold him still.

Completely restrained, Aaron barely held back a sob as Wilson crawled back on top of him.

Fingers traced over his brow, jaw and then his throat. Wilson shushed him, brushing his lips over Aaron's overly hot skin.

"I'll make you forget him. I'll make you forget everyone but me."

Aaron gasped when the fingers around his throat began to tighten, cutting of his air supply.

_________________

"There," Elizabeth pointed to the cabin. "I haven't been here in years. Wilson wouldn't allow if, but I'm not surprised he hasn't changed any of the codes. Wilson doesn't like change."

They had arrived at the cabin just ahead of the police. Spencer was out and running toward the darkened cabin before Derek reached out and stopped him.

"Reid! We can't just go charging in there. We don't even know if they're here."

"He's here, Morgan," Spencer insisted. "I know his is."

"Look, there are no lights on and there's not even a car in the drive."

"Wilson has a garage around back and his 'man cave' as he calls it is downstairs," Mrs. Banks offered.

"See! We have to go in!"

Derek nodded at the SWAT team and they pulled their firearms as they moved in place to enter.

Morgan ordered two of the SWAT to follow Reid even though he knew the man was emotionally compromised. There was no way that anyone was going to hold him back. He would slip away from wherever they stashed him. It was better to control the situation.

Reid and the two SWAT went towards the man cave, Morgan, and the rest of the team with the other SWAT members went through the house.

Reid was solely focused on where he was going. They went in the garage and saw the car parked there. The hood wasn't hot, but it wasn't cool either.

"He's here," Reid said under his breath as they found the door to the down stairs. When he opened the door Spencer heard the sounds of a furniture scraping. Taking one stair at a time and keeping his back against the wall, Reid went down with the two SWAT at his back. When he got halfway there he heard a voice.

"Wilson, stop. You need to stop.." Reid didn't hesitate as he ran the rest of the way down with his gun out in front of him.

"Wilson Banks, stand up, hands against the wall."

When Wilson didn't move Spencer clicked the safety off his gun and moved in closer.

"I said get off the bed, hands against the wall, NOW."

Slowly Wilson stood and the two SWAT tackled him to against the wall, handcuffed him,

"You're under arrest for kidnapping a Federal Agent, forgery, attempted rape. They will read you your rights. Get his out of here," Reid sneered then turned to the bed. He went into immediate action and got Aaron out of the restraints, then helped him pull the pants up over his hips. Aaron fell into Spencer's arms and held on.

"You found me," Aaron croaked, his throat was raw from trying to keep Wilson talking.

"I got you, Aaron. I've got you." Spencer wrapped his arms around his lover and held him. He felt Aaron shaking and Spencer knew he was going into shock.

Aaron wrapped his hand tightly around Spencer's shirt not wanting to let go.

"I need a medic!" Spencer shouted. "Where is the medic!!"

Morgan was at his side in a moment. "They're on the way, Reid. Calm down."

"He's going into shock," Spencer said, clutching the larger man to his chest. He locked eyes with his best friend over Hotch's shoulder. "Get me a blanket, please."

Morgan moved quickly to get a blanket from the bed before draping it over Aaron's shoulders. Spencer reached up and pulled the warmth around his lover's shoulders, trying to warm him and hide his body from the eyes around the room at the same time. Soon the room was full of members from the Crime Scene unit as they began to preserve and catalogue the room. When the medics approached them, Spencer tried to step back so they could examine Aaron, but the older man simply stepped in closer, clinging to the young genius.

"Shh," Spencer whispered, rubbing Aaron's arms to comfort the trembling man. "It's okay. I'm not going anywhere. They need to look at you. Will you let them help you?"

Aaron nodded softly as he let go of Spencer's shirt, letting the medics tend to his wounds.

Spencer addressed the medic closest to him. "His wrists were bound with rope restraints and his ankles were tied with his own pants. He was dosed with something, most likely injected with ketamine something like it so he'll need a tox screen done. He's showing swelling and bruising around his neck so he may need an x-ray as well." He stopped, not wanting to go any further but knowing it was needed. "Let the ER know that he might need a rape kit done as well. But no one, I repeat, no one touches that man without me there. Do you understand?"

"Of course, Agent," the EMT said with a nod as he turned to attend his patient.

He stepped back and watched as the two medics checked Aaron over before helping him up the stairs.

"You were right," Morgan said, watching Spencer with sad eyes. "You did it, Spencer. You saved him."

Spencer nodded. He did it. But why didn't it make him feel any better?  
"Reid, why don't you go. He needs you more than we do." Morgan directed him towards the stairs.

"Are you sure?"

"We got this, Reid."

Spencer nodded then ran up the stairs and towards the ambulance. They had just loaded the gurney inside. The EMT made room for Spencer on the bench seat, then the doors shut and they rushed to the hospital.

"I'm right here, Aaron. Not going anywhere, I promise." Chocolate eyes looked at him, and a hand squeezed his, but Spencer could see that Aaron had retreated inside himself. Spencer just quietly talked to him, telling him everything was going to be okay.

After getting to the hospital and in a curtained off area, Spencer stayed with Aaron.

The Doctor came in after about 45 minutes and did his examination. He checked the wounds on Aarons wrists and took care of them, then redressed them.

A bucket of ice chips was brought in as well as something to help Aaron's throat.

"Agent Hotchner, I know a rape kit has been requested. I'm not going to ask Dr. Reid to leave, but at any time you let me know if we need to stop for a moment."

The hand holding his squeezed tight and Aaron closed his eyes as he turned away. He nodded his agreement, and Spencer worried.

The Doctor was quick, efficient and gentle. Once done and evidence logged, Aaron and Spencer were left alone.

"You don't have to talk right now, but Aaron you are going to have to talk eventually. I'm here and I'm not leaving."

"Promise?" The word was barely spoke but Spencer heard it clearly enough.

"I promise, Aaron. I am not leaving you ever again."

Aaron nodded then his eyes fluttered closed and he was asleep in minutes.

Spencer stood and looked at the chart, the Doctor had given Aaron a mild sedative to help him sleep.

"I'll be right here." Spencer knew there was a possibility of nightmares.

Spencer sat by Aaron's side, holding his hand until the older man drifted off to sleep. He was so intent on watching Aaron that he didn't notice the doctor was standing by his side.

"Doctor Reid?" The doctor whispered. When Spencer nodded, he indicated that he wanted to step out of the room. Reluctantly, Spencer stood, extricating his hand from Aaron's before slipping into the hallway, making sure he could see Aaron without any problem.

"Yes?" He asked. "What is this about?"

"I know you requested the rape kit but I wanted you to know that I found no evidence that Agent Hotchner was raped."

Spencer gasped, shocked but happy at the news. "Are you sure? There was blood on his legs."

"The blood wasn't his. We think it was from his attacker. There was no semen present and I found no evidence of penetration."

Spencer closed his eyes in relief but something was still bothering him. "Then why has he retreated into himself so much?"

"Just because he wasn't raped doesn't mean he wasn't traumatized. We did find evidence of saliva on his body. He will need to talk to someone. His support system is going to be very important to him for his recovery."

"We will be here for him," Spencer promised, knowing that meant more than just him. Aaron would not be alone in this. "How soon do you think he could be released?"

"If he's up to it, he could probably be out of here by tomorrow morning."

"Thank you," Spencer said, shaking the doctor's hand before slipping back inside the room, resuming his place at Aaron's side. The only place he'd rather be right now was in the interrogation room with Wilson Banks. A small smile crossed his face when he thought about the team interviewing the other man. He was sure they would eat him alive.

Aaron bolted upright, his heart beating hard in his chest, the scream stuck in his throat. He looked around trying to comprehend where he was and a hand laid on his knee had him flinching.

"Hey, hey it's just me, Aaron. Just me."

/Spencer/ his mind told him. Not Wilson, not Foyet, Spencer. Taking a deep breath Aaron closed his eyes to calm his erratic heartbeat and breathing.

"It's okay, Aaron you're safe. I promise you that you're safe. Wilson is in custody, you're in the hospital."

"Spen..." Aaron tried to talk, but his throat hurt. he remembered then, the man he thought was his friend had tried to kill him. Spencer handed him a cup with ice chips and a little water. Aaron slowly drank, then let some of the chips melt on his tongue. "Thank you, Spencer."

"You don't have to tell me yet what happened, but Aaron you do need to talk about this. If you don't want to talk about it with me, please, with someone." Spencer gently turned Aaron's head so they were face-to-face. "You aren't alone."

"Please, Spencer...I don't want to be alone." Aaron moved over in the small bed. Spencer took off his shoes and socks then crawled in next to Aaron. They barely fit, but after some maneuvering they found a comfortable position. Spencer was gently running his fingers through Aaron's hair.

For a while there was silence, Aaron was awake and stayed wrapped around Spencer. The nurse had quietly come in after the alarm at her station had gone off. She did a quick check then left the two of them alone.

Finally, Spencer didn't know why, but Aaron started to talk in low tones, telling him everything that had happened.

"It threw me back there, to that night, and I felt helpless all over again."

Aaron clung to Spencer and purged against him, then fell asleep once again. Spencer wasn't going to move. Not for anything in the world.

_____________

  
Wilson Banks sat in the interrogation room, shirtless, shoeless and with a roughly bandaged head wound. The handcuffs that attached him to the metal table were maybe just this side of too tight, but neither of the agents on the other side of the one way mirror really cared. It had been twelve hours since he'd been taken into custody, eleven since he'd been treated by the EMTs for a laceration to his forehead. But still, he had only made a single request.

Dave crossed his arms over his chest as he glared at the man who appeared just a little too comfortable despite his situation. Morgan turned to look at him, his face an angry mask.

"Come on, Rossi. We can't seriously be thinking about giving in to his guy, right?"

Dave shook his head. Despite himself, he was considering it. "What other options do we have?"

"We have enough evidence against him. The photos, the divorce papers - hell, Reid found him on top of Hotch. What more do we need?"

"You know the only way we will be sure he will be put away for good is to get a confession."

"But we can't give him what he wants. This guys' crazy. are we really going to put him through that?"

"I don't know." Dave walked past Morgan before slipping into the small room with Derek right behind him.

Wilson looked up and smirked at them, his eyes hard and just a little wild.

"So?" Dave asked, sitting across from the Unsub. "Ready to talk yet? We could be all done with this, get you some clothes, some food. Does that sound good?"

"I told you," Wilson enunciated as he leaned forward, smiling, showing off too many teeth. "I'll confess...but only to Aaron."

Spencer woke to the buzzing of his phone on the tray table. Aaron hand turned in his sleep, letting Spencer lean up and grab his phone. There was a message from Dave. Spencer extricated himself and let Aaron fall back to sleep. Stepping out of the room and to the waiting room where phone calls were allowed, Spencer called Dave back.

"What's going on?"

"We have a situation here. Wilson Banks isn't talking. He keeps saying that he will only talk to Aaron."

"We can't let Aaron in there, Rossi. I don't want to go over this on the phone, and I don't want to leave him. He's traumatized and even though he talked to me about what happened, there is a lot more going on."

Spencer heard Dave sigh on the other end of the line.

"Alright, we'll keep at this and I'll let you know."

Spencer hung up and took a deep breath, getting himself under control He walked back to Aaron's room and saw the man was awake.

"Hey."

"Hey. Where did you go?"

Spencer walked inside then sat at the end of Aaron's bed. He took his lover's hand in his and held it.

"Rossi called. They aren't getting anywhere with Wilson. He keeps saying that he is only going to confess to you."

Aaron looked down at his and Spencer's combined hands.

"I'll do it."

"Aaron..."

"I need to do it, Spencer. He tried to take everything from me in his obsession. I think it's only fair that I take from him." The glare on Aaron's face was that of the Unit Chief that Spencer had come to love. Whatever happened, he would be there for Aaron.

Spencer tried to convince Aaron to sleep a little longer but the older man's mind was still spinning and he couldn't sleep. When the doctor came in to offer a sleeping aide, Aaron turned him down, saying he needed to keep as clear a head as possible. He waited, knowing that Aaron wasn't going to let this go, and when the doctor came back in, he asked if Aaron could be released. Reluctantly, the doctor signed the discharge paperwork and they were on their way.

Spencer kept checking on his passenger who did nothing but stare out the window, silent the entire ride. He was worried about his lover but knew better than to try to deny Aaron. The man was even more stubborn than Spencer was.

When they made it to the bureau, Spencer carefully steered the older man inside with a strong hand in his lower back. When they reached the interrogation room, they were met by Rossi and Morgan.

"Aaron, you really shouldn't be here," Rossi said, his face concerned as he looked at his friend.

"I know," Aaron said, dropping his eyes as he leaned into Spencer.

"Why don't you tell Rossi what the doctor said while I go make sure that Banks is secure before you go in?" Spencer asked.

"I'm sure that..." Aaron started.

"I'll go make sure that Banks is secure," Spencer said, his tone letting Aaron know that he was not going to take no for an answer.

Without looking back at Aaron, Spencer stalked off to the interrogation room with Morgan by his side. He walked into the observation room before quickly throwing open the the door and walking right up to the table that Banks was chained to.

"Well, well, well. Lookie here. Aaron's little twink is here and..."

He didn't get the next part out because Spencer rushed forward and thrust the table into his abdomen, knocking the breath out of him.

"I am not a twink," he practically growled, "And you will address me as Dr. Reid. Aaron will come in here and you will confess everything you did. No morbid details. No taunting. No elaboration. If you say anything I don't like, I promise you, you won't like what happens."

"Oh, the twink has some fire?" He taunted.

Spencer pressed on the table again, forcing the man between the table and wall, nearly crushing him. Banks suddenly had a panicked look on his face. He turned to Morgan and gasped, "Hey! You're not gonna stop him?"

Derek looked at Spencer and the expression of pure rage on his best friend's face. He looked back at the panicking man and shrugged.

"Nope."

"Fine!" Banks yelled as Spencer continued to glare at him. "Fine! Just get him off me."

Morgan let the staring contest go on just a little longer, then finally when Banks looked to the side did he place a hand on Spencer's shoulder.

Spencer shrugged if off, then moved away on his own. He had not really realized he had that much rage inside of him. He was shaking as he paced up and down the hall trying to calm down. He was stopped in his tracks when an arm wrapped around his shoulder from behind, and another around his stomach, the hand slid underneath his shirt and splayed out over the flesh. He was shaking still with adrenaline.

"Hey, I need you to calm down, Spencer." Aaron whispered in his ear. A kiss was placed on his neck as Aaron buried his head against it. "Please, Spence, I need you calm. I need you..."

Spencer closed his eyes and laid his arms on Aaron's, holding on tight.

"Just, when I saw him again, I can't even explain it. I wanted to rip him apart."

Aaron knew that feeling well. He closed his eyes tight against those memories that had surfaced when Banks had been on top of him. He pulled Spencer in even closer, holding on a little tighter.

"Oh god, I'm sorry Aaron. I'm so sorry."

"Not your fault, baby. It's them. The ones who hurt me, they are the ones at fault. Now, take a deep breath."

Spencer closed his eyes and breathed in deep.

"Now exhale. Inhale, hold it, now exhale."

Spencer felt the rage start to lessen. It was still there, but he wasn't letting it rule him.

"I'm going to let you go, then I'm going to go in there and get Wilson's confession, then I want to go home and hold my son, and I want you to come with me. Will you, Spencer? Will come home with me?"

Spencer turned in Aaron's arms and kissed him hard. He didn't care that they were in the middle of the hall of the interrogation rooms, the FBI be goddamned. He had almost lost Aaron forever, and now he was just happy his lover was alive, and here. The rest they would deal with as it came.

"Yes, Aaron. I will go home with you."

Aaron let Spencer go, then straightened himself out. He took a moment to let himself detach in the only way he knew how. He had to become Unit Chief Hotchner once more. He walked into the observation room and didn't say anything to the people there watching. He grabbed the remote for the recording, and a pad of paper and pen, then walked into the interrogation.

Morgan had set everything to rights and watched Wilson Banks.

Aaron slid into the seat, looked over at Morgan and glared at the man till he left. He turned on the recording and stared at Wilson for a moment.

"FBI case file 68135, Wilson Banks, accused of kidnapping, restraining, and attempted...." Aaron swallowed hard and took a moment. "rape of a Federal Officer, myself, Special-Agent-In-Charge, Aaron Hotchner, Unit Chief of the FBI's BAU's Critical Response Unit. Wilson Banks, have you been advised of your rights?"

"Oh, yes, Aaron I have."

"It is your right to have an attorney present."

Wilson laughed as they sat there staring at each other.

"That's pretty rich." Aaron didn't laugh. He didn't move, he gave Wilson his grade A glare. The one he reserved for the Unsubs he truly hated. "No. I don't want or request a lawyer at this time."

"Well, I'm here, Wilson. Confess."

Spencer stood on the opposite side of the mirror, watching intently as Aaron walked into the interrogation room to face the man who had kidnapped and assaulted the man he loved. His hands were in constant motion, alternating between stretching out his long fingers to clenching them in such tight fists that he was pressing small half moon impressions into his palms. He hated that Aaron was in there with /him/. He wanted to be there, to comfort and protect. But they needed this confession and this was the only way to get it.

He flinched when he heard Aaron's voice break as he said, "Well, I'm here, Wilson. Confess."

Wilson leaned forward as far as he could, smiling a grotesque, toothy grin at Aaron. "Let me just look at you a minute, Aar. You look so different when you're awake."

Spencer watched as Aaron's shoulders tightened up just that tiny bit that let him know that Wilson had struck a blow. This was not going to be an easy match, but Wilson Banks had put himself in the ring with the wrong man.

"Please describe your actions on the night of the attack," Aaron prompted as he lifted his pen, preparing to take notes. This was a safeguard, something easy he could do by rote.

"I'd rather talk about how delicious you looked, all tied up and waiting for me." Wilson was near leering at the Unit Chief, despite being half clothed. "All that pretty flesh. I have to say Aar, you are in even better shape now than in college. Not many men can say that but you...you were just too tasty to pass up."

"If you aren't going to tell me what I want to hear, I will leave...NOW...and then you can either confess to one of my team members or you can just go to prison. We had a deal."

"Yes, we had a deal," Wilson growled, his eyes turning hard as he glared right back at Aaron. "/WE/ had a deal. Remember? Back to school? At the Prosecutor's Office?! It was going to be you and me - Aar and Wills. We were going to take over the world and then you just left me. You left me! You had to go run off to go chase the bad guys. You didn't say shit to me until the day before you left and then you had to do it in front of everyone! What were you afraid of, Aaron!?! WHAT WERE YOU AFRAID OF?!?"

As soon as Banks started yelling, Spencer darted to go to the door, to get to Aaron. He couldn't let his love go through this, take this continued abuse from this man but before he could get to the door, both Morgan and Rossi stopped him, gripping him by the elbows and pulling him back.

Rossi stepped up to the one way mirror to keep an eye on the proceedings while Derek pressed Spencer back against the far wall.

"Reid, I know you want to go in there, man. I get that. But if you go in there, it'll only make things worse. It'll make that asshole in there think he's got some power - over you and over Hotch. Don't give him that. Don't give him that power."

Spencer sighed and nodded as he slowly began to realize that Derek was right, as much as he hated to admit it. All he wanted was to get to Aaron and keep him safe. But Aaron needed to do this and this was the best thing he could do.

Aaron smiled sadly at Wilson. He held in the emotions, pushed them down till he had control of himself again.

"Yes, we did. But, Wills, if I told you what I was planning you would have tried to talk me out of it. I needed to leave. I..." Aaron swallowed hard as he sat up straighter in the chair. "I had to leave. I had to move on. I needed distance from being an attorney, from seeing these people go free after a short-time, or going free because of someone's fuck-up. I...I needed distance from you."

Wilson look like he had been slapped in the face.

"What the fuck are you talking about."

Aaron knew this was a confession he had not even admitted to himself till the night before.

"I knew you were in love with me. I knew it and didn't want to see it. I did love you Wills, but in that way that best friends love each other. I didn't love you romantically. I was afraid, Wills, that you would try to follow me."

Wilson looked devastated. Like Aaron had blown his whole world apart.

"Then when I came back to DC, I thought we were good again. Then you utterly betrayed me." The hard, biting tone and dark flat expression on Aaron's face had Wilson flinching. "You fucked my wife, tried to take my child from me," Aaron rose and leaned forward on the table. Wilson Banks got the full-force of Chief Hotchner. The demeanor and that even hardened criminals often feared. "You helped orchestrate a ploy to keep me from the one person that has stood by me through so much, and then you try to fucking rape me? And you want me to somehow love you? No, Wills, no. That isn't love. That's a sick and twisted obsession. Now, You. Will. Confess. And this time I want everything. And I mean EVERYTHING." Aaron growled as he stared down the man chained to the table.

Spencer was watching and knew Aaron was on edge, but there was something else going on. Something in Aaron's voice that had Spencer wondering if the man he loved had really told him everything that happened the night before.

"Oh, but it was love...is love, Aaron," Wilson tried to plead with just an edge of anger. "You wanted me. You called my name."

"I was drunk, Wilson. I was a drunk kid and you took advantage of me."

Wilson brought his bound hands up, resting his elbows on the table before leaning forward to whisper to Aaron, "You wanted me to take advantage of you, Aar. You asked for it."

Aaron moved back, pulling away from his former best friend. "I didn't. I don't believe you."

"Oh, but you did," Wilson smirked, practically drooling at the other man. "You were asleep and you had your hand in your pants. I know you were trying to get off but you couldn't quite get there. I crawled in the bed with you and took you in my hand. God, you felt so good. You called me Haley just the once, but then after I corrected you, you got it right."

Wilson had closed his eyes at the telling of his tale and Aaron turned quickly toward the mirror, hoping that the ones listening in would understand.

"I don't remember, Wills. What happened?"

Wilson sighed as he opened his eyes, the look distant and unfocused. "I asked you what you wanted. You mumbled something, but I knew what you were saying. You wanted me to make love to you. So I pulled your pants down and I worked you up until you got fully hard before I sucked you down. God! You were so delicious. The sounds you made. The way you grabbed my hair. I knew you loved me then."

Aaron sighed, lightly shaking his head. "But I why don't I remember?"

"Well, Jesus, Aar! You were so drunk I'm surprised you didn't barf everywhere. Besides, I don't think you actually ever fully woke up. Remember? You used to sleep like the dead."

"I guess I did."

Aaron rubbed the back of his neck, trying to calm the tidal wave of nerves that was threatening to crash over him. He'd managed to trick one confession out of Wilson. Now he just needed the rest.

He just hoped that Spencer would forgive him when all was said and done.

Aaron knew he needed to put on the performance of his life. He had to distance himself from the situation. It was as if he was on the outside looking in. This wasn't his once best friend that he had shared a lifetime with, this was an Unsub.

He let out a chuckle as he slowly walked the room. Something he did to particularly chatty suspects. Kept them off-guard so they would keep talking.

"Remember the roof of the science building?" Aaron laughed again as he rubbed his eyebrow. "How you and I would sneak up there, share a joint and just stare at the stars?"

Wilson chuckled as he looked towards Aaron.

"Christ, you would quote Don Quixote and think it was so profound." Wilson laughed again and tapped on the table. "Is that what this place is, Aaron? Are you Don Quixote tilting at windmills?"

"Haley accused me if that. I didn't blame her. Not really. But she never understood, the BAU is part of who I am."

"And what about me? What happens to me, Aar?" Aaron saw the sad look of obsession in Wilson's eyes. He stepped forward and gently brushed his fingers over Wilson's cheek.

"Wills," Aaron tried to put as much emotion as possible into his voice. "I can't help you if you don't tell me everything. Just, just tell me and we can work all this out."

Wilson leaned into the touch, tears slipped down as he took a deep breath.

"You'll help me?" Wilson whispered.

"However I can."

"I just wanted you to love me. I saw you standing there, looking better than I ever remembered. I needed you..." the floodgates opened and Wilson spilled everything. Aaron moved to his previous chair, and though his hand was shaking wrote everything down. When he was done, he turned the pad to Wilson, told him to read through and sign if he agreed with the statement.

Getting up, Aaron grabbed the confession, turned off the recording and started towards the door.

"Take him away." Aaron told the agents just outside.

"Aaron?" Wilson called out as the agents started to take him away. "Aaron, AARON!!" Wilson yelled and Aaron felt his heart shatter. He stood there as Spencer flew out of the observation room and wrapped around him.

Aaron clutched at Spencer as the emotions of the last couple of days crashed through him. Fatigue and stress all hit him at once as he sank to the floor then everything went black.

_______________

  
*beep*

*beep*

*beep*

Aaron sighed at the sound of the incessant beeping close to his ear. He cracked open a single eye to look around before he groaned loudly. He was getting really tired of waking up in hospitals.

He looked around, surprised that he was alone. He wondered where Spencer went, if what he'd heard when Wilson confessed had sent him running away.

Then he heard the voice he would know anywhere. Apparently Spencer was outside in the hallway talking rather animatedly with someone. He could just barely make out the words.

"He was fine! Why did he pass out? He's been unconscious for over two hours!"

"Dr. Reid, he was only checked out upon your insistence," the doctor explained. "The injuries he sustained along with the emotional trauma was obviously too much. But he's stabilized and should be waking up soon."

"This is unreal," Spencer groaned. "He doesn't deserve this."

"It'll be alright, Dr. Reid. Let's go check on him."

When they opened the door, Aaron smiled at them, weak but warm.

"Hey," Spencer said as he approached the bed, quickly taking Aaron's hand. "Look who's awake."

"Hey," Aaron croaked back. His mouth and throat were so tire, he nearly choked on the word. Spencer quickly reached over to the side table and grabbed a cup of ice chips before spooning several in Aaron's mouth. The coolness quickly melted on his tongue and soothed his throat. Once he'd eaten two or three spoonfuls, he cleared his throat and tried again. "What happened?"

"Well," the doctor started. "You apparently experienced another traumatic event following your most recent trauma. It seems the stress was too much for you and you passed out. You were transported here and so we can monitor you."

Aaron groaned. "How long? I really want to go home. I need to be in my own bed."

"Until I'm sure you out of danger and I will not be bullied into releasing before I am satisfied that you are out of the danger zone this time."

Aaron wanted to laugh at the look the two doctors were shooting at each other. Instead, he just reached out and took Spencer's hand in his own.

"It's okay, Spencer. How about we let the doctor here check me over then hopefully he'll let us go home."

"Us?" Spencer asked, his tone hopefully. "As in, both of us, to your home?"

Aaron just smiled while he laid back for the doctor's inspection.

The doctor quickly checked all of his vitals, looked in his throat, the wounds on his wrists and his eyes.

"Well, it looks like you are stable. No concussion, but your throat has some scratches, so I'm going to prescribe a soother, as well as a sleep aid. You are not to go back to work for one week..."

"Doctor...."

"No arguing, Aaron. I know how stubborn you can be. If I wasn't here, I know you would have easily talked my colleagues into letting you go too early. Now, I want you to rest here for another couple of hours, then if I'm satisfied, you can go home."

Aaron knew not to argue. His doctor was just as stubborn as he himself was.

"Alright, alright, I'll do what you want." Aaron grumbled and Spencer stayed there holding his hand. It felt good, really good, but he knew they needed to talk.

"Good. I'm going to have some hot tea brought up. It will help your throat. And, yes before you argue as well, you can stay Dr. Reid. Just as long as there is no stress."

"Thank you, doctor. I'm sure we'll be fine." Spencer tried to sound grateful, but Aaron knew he was just scared. The doctor left and shut the door behind him.

"Did you really mean it, Aaron."

Aaron looked down at their combined hands and squeezed tight.

"I was so afraid you would be upset with me."

"Upset? Why would I be upset?"

"How I had to get the confession. What Wilson admitted. I swear, Spence I don't remember what happened. I don't remember him...us....doing those things."

Spencer cupped Aaron's cheek, gently rubbing his thumb across, wiping away moisture that leaked from Aaron's eyes.

"Aaron, you did nothing for me to be upset with you over. Wilson took advantage of you. You did nothing wrong." Spencer wasn't going to say that Aaron had been raped, but that was what happened. He wanted to make sure Aaron was rested and his head clear before Spencer confronted him about the assault. It would be too much for him to deal with at this time.

"Then, yes. Yes, Spencer I want you to come home with me."

Spencer slipped off his shoes and his sweater. He had a thin white t shirt underneath. He slipped into bed and wrapped himself around Aaron, letting his love know that he was there, and he was loved. It wasn't long before Aaron's breathing evened out and he was sleeping once more. Spencer knew it was going to be the best medicine for him, next to getting home and in his own bed.

________________

  
Aaron woke up warm and rested. Honestly, he felt better than he had in much too long. The body wrapped around him shifted, pulling him in tighter.

"Good morning, Sleepyhead," Spencer greeted quietly.

Aaron looked around shocked by how dark it looked outside. "Did I really sleep all day?"

"Yep. You obviously really needed the sleep. The team came to check on you last night but left when they saw that you were alright. The doctor said he'd come by first thing to check you out so I can take you home."

Aaron smiled. "That sounds amazing." When Spencer didn't move to call the doctor, he asked, "What's wrong?"

"Are you alright, Aaron?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

Spencer shuffled around until he was looking into Aaron's deep brown eyes. "What you've just been through? All the revelations from Wilson? I can't even imagine having to deal with that level of betrayal. I hope you know that I am going to be here for you, no matter what."

A single tear slid down Aaron's cheek, until to be swiped away with a gentle brush of the thumb from Spencer. He smiled through the tears. He missed this. And he'd let himself go without this for six years because of his fear. He had so much to make up for - to Spencer and to himself.

___________________

  
Six weeks after the incidents with Wilson Banks, Spencer had been slowly and quietly moving in with Aaron, on the one condition that Aaron go through counseling. Not just to deal with Wilson and what happened to him, but the PTSD that had surfaced from Foyet's attack.

Spencer was there through the nightmares, and the mild panic attacks as Aaron worked through things he had tried to bury for so long. One day, Aaron had gone home early right after his session and Spencer worried a little over it. He knew all of this was going to take time, and he was glad that not only was Aaron getting help, but they were talking more. He also knew Jessica had taken Jack away for a week so that he and Aaron could have some alone time.

All the way home, Spencer smiled to himself as he thought of that word, and that home was wherever Aaron and Jack were. All the way home he worried about what had happened. Spencer parked, and took the stairs because he didn't want to wait for the elevator. He made his way inside and stopped at the door. The lights were muted, and soft romantic Jazz was playing on the radio. There were candles everywhere, and when he looked over towards the open kitchen, flowers and as set table.

"You're home," Aaron turned to look at Spencer, and his breath was taken away. His love was standing there in fitted jeans, a buttondown, tie and a waistcoat that fit perfectly. It was one of the sexiest things Spencer had ever seen Aaron wear. His hair was loose, he had been growing it a little longer and the lightly styled look made his face almost boyish.

"What's all this?" Spencer put his things down and walked towards Aaron.

"For you. For us. For not giving up on me when you could have turned your back and walked away. For making me deal with all of the things I tried not to deal with. For forgiving me and loving me, and Jack."

Spencer moved in closer and gently cupped the back of Aaron's neck pulling him to kiss him. It started slow and sweet, then deepened as Aaron opened, letting Spencer slip his tongue inside. A gentle slide of lips, a gasp, a moan, the men moved together as one as they wrapped around each other. Aaron pushed Spencer back against the fridge, turning the kiss desperate with need as he pulled Spencer's hips closer so he could feel Aaron's arousal.

"Take me to bed. Make love to me, let me feel you, Spencer."

Spencer swallowed back the moan as pulled Aaron's face away looking at him eye-to-eye.

"Are you sure?" They hadn't pushed intimacy too far because Spencer wanted Aaron to heal, mentally and emotionally. They had been working up to this, to more.

Aaron connected their foreheads as he touched his fingers to Spencer's cheek. Licking his lips he took a few deep breaths before he spoke.

"I was raped. I didn't want to admit to anyone what Foyet did. That the way he hurt me, it was as much of rape as if he had done it physically. Then finding out what Wilson did, how he had used me when I was vulnerable. I didn't think I would get through it. I didn't think you would ever want to touch me again. But you do. Everyday in some way you touch me and show me how much you love me and want me. Make love to me, Spencer. Give me back what we had those fourteen days together. I need you."

Spencer smiled softly then pulled Aaron towards the bedroom. When Aaron started to take off his clothes, Spencer batted his hands away. He wanted to do it. He wanted to peel back the layers, to kiss every part of flesh as it was exposed to him. He wanted to sink to the floor and take Aaron's cock in his mouth and give him pleasure. He wanted to feel the head slip down his throat and he wanted to make Aaron come just like that.

Gripping Aaron's ass, he pulled him in even more and proceeded to do just what he wanted. A hand gripped his hair, but didn't make him do anything, just held him. Spencer pulled back, then let Aaron's cock slide back in, his tongue licking and pressing against the hard length.

"Spencer, please," Aaron sounded wrecked, and Spencer continued what he was doing. Then, a groan and Aaron stilled warning Spencer he was going to come. Pulling off after swallowing everything, Spencer stood and took Aaron's mouth in hard, needy kiss. Hands were all over him, stripping him, then they were all over his naked flesh.

"On the bed," Spencer gently pushed Aaron down. He took his time in preparing his lover, making sure Aaron was okay, that what he was doing was okay. Then, the glorious heat surrounded him as he pushed himself inside.

"Don't stop, please?" Aaron looked even more wrecked. Eyes dark with need, lips swollen from being kissed, body slick with sweat. Spencer took it all in as he leaned down and once again kissed Aaron before he started to move.

Legs were thrown over his shoulders as he pressed inside. The look of absolute abandon on Aaron's face spurred Spencer on. He couldn't hold back anymore as he moved, hips rolling, as fingers gripped his back. Aaron's back bowed when Spencer hit his prostate, a keening sound then he was fucking his lover giving him everything he had to give. Showing him with his body just how much he was loved. Spencer poured out all of his emotions in an erotic dance as hands and legs, gripped. Mouths came together in kisses both tender, and hard and needy.

"Spence," Aaron cried out just before he came, untouched, between their connected bodies. The firm grip of muscles on Spencer's cock as he thrust in a few more times had him crying out as he pressed in once more then stilled. Panting hard, he looked down in Aaron's face that was nothing but pure bliss.

"I love you, Aaron Michael Hotchner, and nothing or nobody is going to keep me from you ever again."

Aaron looked up, a tear leaked out as he held Spencer close. They would take showers in a minute, he was too full of too many emotions at the moment to move.

"And I love you, Spencer Matthew Reid. For now and for always."

Later that night, after cleaning up, dinner, then Aaron getting Spencer to dance with him as the music flowed around them and the candles flickered, Aaron promised he would always be there, and would never lie to Spencer again. Lying in bed, Aaron knew second chances rarely came around. This time he was keeping his promises. Spencer was his everything and he never forgot that again.

-the end-


End file.
